Sep 13, 2007

Well, this is it. I'm leaving tomorrow evening for Lisbon, where early on Saturday morning my boyfriend and I will catch our flight to the UK. I'll be studying at the University of Nottingham for the next 6 months.

So I'm going to be away for a while. I'm taking my laptop, and the plan is to have access to the Internet at home, but I'm not one hundred percent sure if that'll be possible, and plus even if it is it should take some time. The first week or so should be crazy - we're going to go looking for permanent accomodation, and then we'll have to settle in. The ideal would be a place just for the two of us, but maybe we'll have to share with other students. If that happens, I just hope they aren't too loud. I'm really not into the "party" side of academic life. I like my peace and quiet and my books :P

But anyway, I apologize in advance for not visiting everyone's blogs very often in the next few weeks. I will miss you all. If we manage to have internet access at home, I should be back to posting and commenting regularly in a few week's time. If not, I'll be able to go online at the University, so I'll still check in every now and then, and I'll still post reviews of my challenge books for sure.

On other news, I recently discovered that Terry Pratchett, my second favourite author, will be signing copies of his new book at Waterstone's in Nottingham on the 13th of October. I cannot tell you how insanely excited I am about this. I imagine that there will be a lot of people at the signing, and it's supposed to only last an hour, so I'll have to arrive early if I want to make sure I get to meet him. But spending some hours waiting enthusiastically with fellow Discworld fans is a lovely prospect to me.

The book I'm taking with me to read on the trip is The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I started reading it yesterday, and I'm only 15 pages into it. Yes, that's how crazy these last few days have been. There were a lot of little things to take care of that ended up taking a lot of times, and there were also some last minute problems to solve. Anyway, despite my excruciatingly slow progress, I think I can already tell that I'm going to love this book. Arundhati Roy's writing is breathtakingly beautiful. It might take me a while to finish the book, but I think I'm going to enjoy every single page of it.So...goodbye everyone, and wish me luck finding a nice place and getting settled in. I will leave you with this photo because 1) I don't think I've ever posted a picture here before and 2) I really like the way the light looks in it. My boyfriend took this picture of me last week. We went out to see a Dali exhibition, and then we went for a walk in a nearby park. I was reading Bridge to Terabithia at the time, and whenever we sat down for a little while I'd take the chance to read a few pages. That's how absorbed in it I was. He took this picture sneakily in one of those moments.

Good luck with everything! I'll miss your regular updates so much, but I'll continue to check in for new posts ;)

How cool that you get to meet Pratchett!! That'll be great. Are you bringing your entire Discworld collection? :p

I hope that things go smoothly for you at the new University. It must be a great feeling to get to share that with your boyfriend. Make the most of it! I'm sure you will! Oh yeah...and go read Neverwhere in London :)

I really like that photo. Email me when you are over and we will sort out meeting up in London or Nottingham. I am away at the end of October so it I don't reply right away don't be offended. Safe travelling.

Thank you for the good wishes everyone. I will miss you guys. I hope I don't have to be absent for too long.

Tanabata, I'm going to be studying English Literature.

Chris, I wish I could take my whole Discworld collection, lol. But because of the amount of people, probably, they'll only have him sign copies of the new Discworld book, "Making Money". I'm going to check if it can only be one copy per person, though, because I want to get one for a friend too.

Good luck in finding a house in Notthingham!I'm reading the God of small things too, and although I liked the style at first I'm finding it's slowing me down now, but I like the story so I think I'll continue and then we'll see.Lovely picture by the way.Come back soon:)

Thank you so much everyone! I miss you all already. I have internet access at university, but my online time has to be used to contact possible future landlords. Hopefully I'll have the time to write a proper post tomorrow or so. I just wanted to say thank you for your well-wishes.

Oh no, I really, really, really hope you have internet access during this time. I certainly don't want to have you out of contact for 6 months!!! I hope you have a wonderful time and look forward to hearing about any adventures you have in reading, or in life, during this time.

What a beautiful pic! Thanks for sharing. I do hope you have internet at home because I've become completely addicted to your blog and your reviews. Good luck with everything and hope to "see" you soon!